Local films featured at this year's Boston Jewish Film Festival

Wednesday

Oct 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMOct 31, 2007 at 4:25 PM

The Boston Jewish Film Festival collects its films from around the world — the United States, Mexico, France, Canada, Brazi, and, most of all, from the burgeoning cinema industry in Israel. But this year’s festival also has some strong local connections.

Ed Symkus

The Boston Jewish Film Festival collects its films from around the world — the United States, Mexico, France, Canada, Brazi, and, most of all, from the burgeoning cinema industry in Israel. But this year’s festival also has some strong local connections.

“Orthodox Stance,” by Harvard graduate Jason Hutt, who also made “Sausage Here?” about Fenway Park street vendors, tells of Dmitriy Salita, a Ukranian émigré in Brooklyn who started boxing at 13, went pro at 20, oozes confidence in and out of the ring, regularly puts on traditional tefillin for morning prayers, and never fights on the Sabbath.

“Making Trouble,” directed by Rachel Talbot and produced by Brookline’s Jewish Women’s Archive, presents profiles of Molly Picon, Fanny Brice, Sophie Tucker, Joan Rivers, Gilda Radner and Wendy Wasserstein. The segments are bookended by sequences of four contemporary Jewish comediennes (highlighted by Jackie Hoffman) sitting around, chatting and eating in Katz’s Delicatessen, happy to be “part of a continuum of Jewish entertainers.”

“At Home in Utopia,” a documentary by BJFF founder Michal Goldman, goes back to the 1920s to show the origins of the Coops — a group of communal apartment buildings in the Bronx — with plenty of gateways and lots of greenery — that were intended to be “a fortress for the working class.” The film takes in a visit to the still-well-kept area by some senior citizens who grew up there and now relive a few memories.

Another documentary, “The Powder & the Glory,” by local directors Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman, about the rivalry between cosmetics queens Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, was featured last spring at the BJFF’s annual work-in-progress program. “At Home in Utopia” was the work-in-progress shown in 2005.

This is the 19th year the festival has been presenting contemporary films on Jewish themes from around the world There are 39 films (including shorts) in 51 programs at six venues, stretching from Boston, Brookline and Newton, to Arlington, Randolph and Danvers.

“It was focused this year so we could show more of the films more times,” says BJFF Executive Director Sara Rubin. “We’re giving people extra opportunities to see some of the films. And we’re very excited about having some screenings at the new ICA. It’s a beautiful auditorium.”

The festival’s artistic director, Kaj Wilson, regularly attends film festivals in Jerusalem, Haifa and Berlin in search of new and interesting titles, while other staff members have become voracious readers and surfers of Web sites that bring news of other international fests.

“In February we post a call for entries on our own Web site, says Rubin. “We actively send that form to film schools throughout the U.S., and a fair number in Israel.”

Rubin points out that among the many films — some of which will be presented by their directors — and among the free panel discussions — “Spotlight on Israeli Film” on Nov. 4 at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, and “Jewish Utopias” on Nov. 11 at the Museum of Fine Arts — there’s a lot more to the Boston Jewish Film Festival.

“We’re a year-round organization,” she says. “The heart of what we do is still our November festival. But we know that not everyone can get to it, so we use the festival to be able to do encores at other times of the year. In June, we take big hits from the festival and show them again at the MFA, and sometimes we add a film or two. We show films on video at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center, and we co-present with other festivals such as the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival and the French Film Festival.”

The Boston Jewish Film Festival runs through Nov. 11. Passes for admission to all films (you must be there 15 minutes before showtime) are available for $200. With the exception of a few events, regular tickets are $10; seniors & students, $9. Two bargain matinees are $6 for all seats. For venues, a complete schedule and more information, call TicketWeb at 1-866-468-7619 or visit www.bjff.org.